CereVasc Announces Closing of $43.9 Million Series A Financing

CereVasc Inc., a company focused on improving the treatment of patients with hydrocephalus, announced the closing of an expanded Series A financing that raised a total of $43.9 million led by the Perceptive Xontogeny Venture (PXV) Fund and ATON Partners LLC.
 
The Company’s lead product, the eShunt System, is the first minimally invasive cerebrospinal fluid shunt and delivery technology designed to avoid the need for invasive surgery and extended hospitalization associated with the current surgical treatment of hydrocephalus. The capital will be used to support the first-in-human clinical trial of the eShunt System as well as follow on clinical studies to support regulatory approvals. The first study is expected to begin enrollment during the second half of 2020.
 
“With this financing, we are well positioned to drive the development of our eShunt System forward as we strive to improve care for patients with hydrocephalus,” said Dan Levangie, chairman and CEO of CereVasc Inc. “We believe our first-in-human study will demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the eShunt System and will set us on a path to achieve regulatory clearance in important markets.”
 
“Hydrocephalus, which is most commonly treated with an invasive surgical procedure, is one of the most common neurosurgical conditions impacting hundreds of thousands of children and adults in the U.S.,” said Carl B. Heilman, M.D., cofounder of CereVasc, neurosurgeon-in-chief of Tufts Medical Center and chairman of Neurosurgery and professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. “There was a clear need for a new approach to dramatically simplify the treatment of hydrocephalus, reduce morbidity, and expand the use of CSF shunts to a broader patient population.”

The eShunt System is a minimally invasive treatment for hydrocephalus and is comprised of an endovascularly implantable CSF shunt, eShunt Implant, and associated delivery componentry designed to avoid the need for invasive surgery, extended hospitalization, and post-procedure pain management. An interventional neuroradiologist, neurosurgeon, or neurologist will deploy the eShunt Implant using local anesthesia through a percutaneous femoral venous approach under X-ray guidance in an angiography suite.
 
Based on its design and deployment, the eShunt Implant is intended to not only offer a minimally-invasive outpatient, day-surgery alternative but may significantly reduce failures associated with ventriculo-peritoneal shunt (VPS) systems such as treatment infection, catheter obstruction, and over-drainage. The first-in-human clinical study is expected to begin enrollment during the second half of 2020.
 
“Design improvements to decrease the high rate of shunt failure that leads to multiple invasive surgical procedures during a patient’s lifetime have been lacking over the last 60-years,” commented Adel Malek, M.D., Ph.D. cofounder of CereVasc and director of Cerebrovascular and Endovascular Division in the Department of Neurosurgery at Tufts Medical Center. “An innovative therapy with novel endovascular design and minimally invasive deployment has the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes.”
 
“We are very excited to partner with cofounders, Dan Levangie and Pat Sullivan, as they build another great company with the potential to improve the lives of thousands of patients. We believe the eShunt System’s advantages are transformative, and Dan and Pat’s track record of building successful companies and creating tremendous shareholder value makes us highly confident in this investment,” said Chris Garabedian, CEO of Xontogeny and manager, PXV Fund for Perceptive Advisors.
 
Established in 2018, the Perceptive Xontogeny Venture (PXV) Fund focuses purely on private investments in early stage life sciences companies. A primary source of investments for the PXV Fund are companies that are seeded, incubated, and/or actively managed by Xontogeny, a life sciences accelerator that provides experienced operational support to successfully and efficiently advance early stage companies. The PXV Fund is an affiliate of Perceptive Advisors, a New York City-based investment management firm founded in 1999 and focused on supporting the progress of the life sciences industry by identifying opportunities and directing financial resources to the most promising technologies in healthcare.